The 12th Planet

The suggestion that Earth was visited by intelligent beings from elsewhere postulates the existence of another celestial body upon which intelligent beings established a civilization more advanced than ours.

Speculation regarding the possibility of Earth visitation by intelligent beings from elsewhere has centered, in the past, on such planets as Mars or Venus as their place of origin. However, now that it is virtually certain that these 2 planetary neighbors of Earth have neither intelligent life nor an advanced civilization upon them, those who believe in such Earth visitations look to other galaxies and to distant stars as the home of such extraterrestrial astronauts.

The advantage of such suggestions is that while they cannot be proved, they cannot be disproved, either. The disadvantage is that these suggested “homes” are fantastically distant from Earth, requiring years upon years of travel at the speed of light. The authors of such suggestions therefore postulate one-way trips to Earth: a team of astronauts on a no-return mission, or perhaps on a spaceship lost and out of control, crash-landing upon Earth.

This is definitely not the Sumerian notion of the Heavenly Abode of the Gods.

The Sumerians accepted the existence of such a “Heavenly Abode,” a “pure place,” a “primeval abode.” While Enlil, Enki, and Ninhursag went to Earth and made their home upon it, their father Anu remained in the Heavenly Abode as its ruler. Not only occasional references in various texts but also detailed “god lists” actually named 21 divine couples of the dynasty that preceded Anu on the throne of the “pure place.”

Anu himself reigned over a court of great splendor and extent. As Gilgamesh reported (and the Book of Ezekiel confirmed), it was a place with an artificial garden sculpted wholly of semiprecious stones.

There Anu resided with his official consort Antu and six concubines, eighty offspring (of which 14 were by Antu), one Prime Minister, three Commanders in charge of the mus (rocket ships), two Commanders of the Weapons, two Great Masters of Written Knowledge, one Minister of the Purse, two Chief Justices, two “who with sound impress,” and 2 Chief Scribes, with five Assistant Scribes.

Mesopotamian texts refer frequently to the magnificence of the abode of Anu and the gods and weapons that guarded its gateway. The tale of Adapa reports that the god Enki, having provided Adapa with a shem,

Made him take the road to Heaven, and to Heaven he went up. When he had ascended to Heaven, he approached the Gate of Anu. Tammuz and Gizzida were standing guard at the Gate of Anu.

Guarded by the divine weapons SHAR.UR (“royal hunter”) and SHAR.GAZ (“royal killer”), the throne room of Anu was the place of the Assembly of the Gods. On such occasions a strict protocol governed the order of entering and seating:

Enlil enters the throne room of Anu, seats himself at the place of the right tiara, on the right of Anu. Ea enters [the throne room of Anu], seats himself at the place of the sacred tiara, on the left of Anu.

The Gods of Heaven and Earth of the ancient Near East not only originated in the heavens but could also return to the Heavenly Abode. Anu occasionally came down to Earth on state visits; Ishtar went up to Anu at least twice.

Enlil’s center in Nippur was equipped as a “bond heaven-earth.” Shamash was in charge of the Eagles and the launching place of the rocket ships. Gilgamesh went up to the Place of Eternity and returned to Uruk; Adapa, too, made the trip and came back to tell about it; so did the biblical king of Tyre.

A number of Mesopotamian texts deal with the Apkallu, an Akkadian term stemming from the Sumerian AB.GAL (“great one who leads,” or “master who points the way”).

A study by Gustav Guterbock (Die Historische Tradition und Ihre Literarische Gestaltung bei Babyloniern und Hethiten) ascertained that these were the “bird-men” depicted as the “Eagles” that we have already shown. The texts that spoke of their feats said of one that he “brought down Inanna from Heaven, to the E-Anna temple made her descend.”

This and other references indicate that these Apkallu were the pilots of the spaceships of the Nefilim.

Two-way travel was not only possible but actually contemplated to begin with, for we are told that, having decided to establish in Sumer the Gateway of the Gods (Babili), the leader of the gods explained:

When to the Primeval Source for assembly you shall ascend, There shall be a restplace for the night to receive you all. When from the Heavens for assembly you shall descend, There shall be a restplace for the night to receive you all.

Realizing that such two-way travel between Earth and the Heavenly Abode was both contemplated and practiced, the people of Sumer did not exile their gods to distant galaxies. The Abode of the Gods, their legacy discloses, was within our own solar system.

We have seen Shamash in his official uniform as Commander of the Eagles. On each of his wrists he wears a watchlike object held in place by metal clasps. Other depictions of the Eagles reveal that all the important ones wore such objects.

Whether they were merely decorative or served a useful purpose, we do not know.

But all scholars are agreed that the objects represented rosettes—a circular cluster of “petals” radiating from a central point. (Fig. 86)